Career Pathways of Social Workers with Criminal Convictions: Gifted Healers and Misunderstood Misfits

Abstract

There is a tension within the social work profession relating to the education, employment and registration of social workers with criminal convictions. This is of significant importance given that mandatory registration of social workers comes into effect in February 2021. This research project sought to gain an understanding of how social workers with criminal convictions, in Aotearoa New Zealand, had navigated their social work career pathways. A key aim was to explore the barriers they had experienced along the way. The project also sought to identify the strengths and assets that they had brought to the profession. In order to achieve this goal, 11 individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with social workers with one or more criminal convictions. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was undertaken to explore the phenomenon of social workers with criminal convictions. Their experiences, the meanings they gave to them, and the beliefs they held about the social work profession were analysed and coded manually with the support of NVivo 12, a qualitative data analysis computer software package. This research found that social workers with criminal convictions brought unique gifts to the social work profession. It also revealed that professionalisation within social work practice, including mandatory registration, had the potential to exclude valuable employees. The participants described the stigma and discrimination they were subjected to and highlighted the barriers that held them back from progressing within their chosen field. Participants also highlighted the lack of clarity, consistency and transparency that currently exists within social work employment, education and registration processes. In excluding those with criminal convictions, the social work profession is undermining its social justice mandate.